PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

V M Drescher

Publications and source records attributed to V M Drescher.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1985

Rumination syndrome in children treated by increased holding.

Rumination syndrome--the frequent regurgitation of previously ingested food into the mouth where it is chewed--is a common, life-threatening disorder of retarded individuals. Four cases are described in which holding a retarded, ruminating child for 10-15 min before, during, and after meals, was associated with remission of rumination. Simple holding was effective in three; in the fourth, it was necessary to punish the child by putting her into a separate room for 3 min immediately after regurgitation. A within-subject reversal experimental design suggested that holding and not simple distraction was the effective component of the treatment. Treatment benefits were well maintained when the child returned to a home environment in which he or she continued to be held periodically. It is proposed that there are two behavioral etiologies for idiopathic rumination syndrome--social deprivation and reward learning through increased attention for regurgitation. Holding is the treatment of choice for the first type, and punishment with time out may be necessary to suppress regurgitation in the second type.

Child Behavior Disorders↗
PubMed1980

Heart rate response to touch.

The effect of tactile stimulation on heart rate (HR) in humans was investigated under three conditions: 1) Experimenter outside of room in which subject is sitting; 2) experimenter in the room with the subject; 3) experimenter in the room while touching the subject's right wrist. Nonsignificant increases in HR were observed when the experimenter entered the room (X = 0.64 beats per minute (bpm)). Conversely, large decreases occurred when the experimenter placed his hand on the subject's wrist (X = 9.16 bpm, p is less than 0.05). To determine if tactile stimulation alone accounts for these differences three comparisons were made in a second experiment: 1) Experimenter out of test room, subject touches own wrist; 2) experimenter in room standing near subject; 3) experimenter touching subject's wrist. Subjects showed slightly elevated HR during the self-touch condition (X = 1.26 bpm, not significant). Although no change was noted with the experimenter standing beside the subject, there were decreases, as in Experiment I, when the experimenter touched the subject's wrist (X = 1.75 bpm, p is less than 0.05). These results suggest that the observed decreases in HR were contingent upon another person's touch. While self-tactile stimulation produced a slight increase in HR, tactile stimulation by another caused bradycardia.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Realtion of heart rate control to heartbeat perception.

The relation of heartbeat perception to voluntary control of heart rate (HR) and to learning of enhanced HR control during feedback was studied in three experiments. In Experiment I heartbeat perception was unrelated to voluntary control of HR but was negatively correlated with HR learning. Experiments II and III showed that heartbeat perception was unrelated to either initial voluntary control or learning and suggested that sampling error accounted for the negative correlation in Experiment I. Experiment I also demonstrated that learned increases in HR are retained for at least 10 weeks following feedback training. Autonomic Perception Questionnaire scores were not predictive of voluntary HR control or learning.

Adolescent↗